Scotty

thats why there was a comma after Marius, Denzil and Bayne and why I said Deano and Rory were "available" ... didnt say they were the answer, just available !!! Having said that, I dont think Deano has been given the opportunity to show us what he can do in the same way that Rory has and thats a shame as he seems to be decent enough in the reserves (I know - different level etc). If we don't sign a striker, I would hope that Garry Wood might come back as a confident player in the same way as Robson did when he returned from Forfar and that would be as good as a new signing.

They cheated - they get kicked out plain and simple. I believe that one of the two ineligible players also setup the winning goal !!! What worries me is the SFA .... yesterday they had an emergency meeting, fined them 10K and ordered a replay on Saturday because they had fielded one ineligible player, but then somehow they figure out later, after the meeting had happened, and after the press release had been issued that they had actually fielded two ineligible players ..... shouldnt they have investigated this (ie looked at teamlines and confirmed with SFL) before the meeting ?

Got to agree with GJ We have seen a lot of players either leave or basically be told they are leaving soon with no-one coming in to replace them and that doesnt feel right ..... We already needed a central defender but with Caff now gone, the need is greater. OK we have McGuire but cover is pretty non existent here unless one of the young lads is going to get chucked in at the deep end. We were ok in midfield before, maybe even top heavy in that area but reading the papers and setanta today, with doubts over Markus getting a new contract, Rankin gone, Hart possibly going, Wilson going at end of season, and rumblings from Russell we are starting to look deficient here too ... especially if we are going to stick with a 5 man midfield. Hopefully we do make sure Zander comes back from Elgin at end of season though !!! I think we might be ok up front, again especially if we are sticking to 4-5-1. Marius, Denzil and Bayne can cope and we also have Rory and Deano available. Hopefully the return of Garry Wood at the end of the season will be like getting a new (and confident player).

Thank you for bringing it back on topic Johnboy .... I was just about to :buttkick: the three admin/mods who blatantly took it off topic :tic01: .....we'll make a moderator of you yet :015: seems like a good signing for ICT.

ICT are reputed to have the lowest basic salaries in the SPL (Niculae excepted) but they are also said to have a good bonus scheme that rewards first team players for results achieved throughout the season and also for final league position. As I understand it (and I have no idea if this is correct or not), if we finish in positions 8 or above we would just shade the likes of St Mirren, Falkirk etc. but would come nowhere near the "bigger" teams. This is a bit of a double edged sword .... As a supporter, I like the idea because what we pay out is directly related to any increased money we take in for doing better in cups or the league but if I were a 'fringe' player at the club I might be less than happy to sit on the sidelines as I wouldnt be getting the bonuses (or at least the full bonuses) if I werent playing .....

steady. how they gonna play there when they have already moved to BMO field in Toronto :015: :015:

and if we accepted the McGregor bid, we would get them for free :015: :015: :015: ... meanwhile, back in the real world ...

you need a scoreboard to keep track of the score ??? A scoreboard is the last thing we need ..... costs a fortune, consumes electricity that would make Al Gore blush, and would go where exactly ? would rather we spent any excess money we have on enhancing existing player contracts, making our stands permanent and generally improving whats already there.

Dont have a problem with a testimonial for Barry or Richard .... to spend 10 years at one club whether in one unbroken timeline or over a couple of stints is still a huge proportion of the career of most players and worthy of recognition. As CD says - you can choose to support the events or not and I suppose the fact that Barry's dinner is sold out supplies the answer ......

[attach=1] His managerial record may not be great - but there was something I liked about him at Motherwell. Can't quite put my finger on it, whether it was his straight talking in the media, or whether it was that he seemed to do reasonably well considering all the upheaval going on at Well during his stewardship ... but I just have a feeling he will do well with Scotland as Burley's #2 Hopefully Burley takes his Hearts form to the Scotland job ! [attach=2]

Rates: Given that the town centre is becoming a ghost town I am sure reasonable rates could be negotiated. I believe we pay a commission to Debenhams for sales and I know we pay a commission to PremiumTV for all website sales so maybe the charges for our own place would be similar to the cost of doing business in these other methods..... Volunteers: ICT has always had a slew of people willing to volunteer to help in various ways. unfortunately, it seems most of these offers are either ignored or turned down. Alex - not trying to get into an argument, just frustrated that the club are not maximising their earning potential as I am sure you and many others are as well. If we put aside the comparisons between purpose built buildings compared to portakabins or the pitfalls or hidden costs of town centre shops for a minute, that leaves the discussion about online presence and there can be no excuse not to have every single piece of merchandise you have available on your shop website. It costs nothing to put on there, it costs nothing to merchandise, and all it takes is the time to take a few photos and upload them. I know from having provided a basic online shop to the club for a few years that all the cheap stuff sells - even online - as people will order a top or jacket etc, then top the order up with bookmarks, pens, badges and all the other high margin low cost items ..... if these are not available online, or the postage for them is excessive then you simply lose the opportunity. I am sure you can appreciate that when dealing with people hundreds or even thousands of miles away, there is no fall-back of a "walk-in" sale. Of the total of 44 items available on the club shop site (a lot less than the number of SKUs available in the shop itself) only 15 of them (including things like jackets, home/away tops etc) are over the value of £14 which is the flat rate charge for overseas postage. I am not sure of the UK national postage rate charged in the online shop but I can tell you that this charge stopped me dead in my tracks from ordering things like Calendars, keyrings, mouse mats and other small stuff that I was going to give to friends over here as "joke" gifts. I ended up getting someone to go in and get me a calendar, didnt bother with the other stuff, and then got them to post the calendar out to me at a cost of a couple of quid.............. The girls in the shop do a great job with the tools they have available to them, but I think the club "could do better" in terms of assisting them to increase/maximise the profitability. (and lets not even go there with Errea deliveries :029:)

I thought you meant the Rangers connection .... far more insidious than merely being English.

I too noted that word in the audio interview.

His mum and Dad will be at every game

There are very few of us who know the current wage structure. We can speculate and some may have snippets of information but for the most part the actual amounts are not in the public domain (nor should they be). From what I have been told in the past, ICT has always paid a lower basic wage and decent bonuses putting the onus on the players to do well to increase their salaries. This seems to have served us quite well over the years although I know for a fact that we have lost players when ICT have low-balled new contract offers and then not made improved ones. There was speculation about the structure of John Rankin's contract when we signed Niculae, and if the rumours about that have any semblance of truth then that could be one big reason why he was allowed to move. In Russell's case, his last contract was signed a few years ago, and as others have speculated, it would not surprise me in the least if he is probably not on a great wage in comparison to more recent signings (not including Niculae who is a different subject). However, he will have benefited from the bonus structure which seems to have moved on a bit year-on-year and is now based around at least a portion of the SPL final position bonus. As a club I think we need to make sure our basic wage is good for our level from the players' point of view but we also have to make sure from a club point of view that it is sustainable - ie, not putting us in the Livi/Dunfermline scenario. We should be offering players like Russell (and any others) a salary commensurate with our SPL status, and also based on their own seniority within the club structure and should continue to rely on good bonuses for performance. that way, if we finish higher, the club gets more money and so do the players, but regardless of our league position players should be secure in the knowledge that they can progress in basic salary as they progress within the team. As a first choice central midfielder who has been with the club for a number of years, he should be getting something towards the top end of our basic structure. As for the "Niculae effect" then realistically, only Richard Hastings has a leg to stand on. None of our other players are/were International players who can legitimise a request for matching wages although I cant blame them in the slightest for trying. Again, maybe this needs looked at ... If we are to attract "star" players then we will obviously have to pay more, but do we go along the route that they get a wage at the top end of our pay scale and anything excess must come from sponsors or do we throw the wage structure out the window ... its a toughie but again, the players should perhaps look to the bonuses. If we have a top player and that player is doing well for the club then the club should be doing well in the league ... ergo we finish higher and every player gets more in their wage packet through bonuses.

:clapping03: :clapping03:

Charles - I hear what you say, and none of us can deny that ICT were in bad financial shape before the Trust was formed and money was given out. However, there are a lot of differences. ICTs debt, whilst in part perhaps accumulated through bad practices, was also attributable to the astronomical costs above and beyond what they were ever given to help develop that part of the Longman. The council might never have got that money back directly, but they have profited handsomely from the infrastructure that ICT had to put in place at great cost. Secondly - after reaching the brink and being saved, ICT have cut their cloth accordingly. Year on year I believe we also pay a similar "token" rent to the Trust for the use of the stadium and we dont default on that. We have no debt other than a 20K interest free loan recorded in the accounts (which we should pay back ASAP so we are truly debt free). It would seem that we came to the brink, got saved, and learned our lesson whereas Clach got saved by the Council as well as ICT/Sutherland and now find themselves in a similar situation just a few short years later with no lessons learned. I dont know what the answer is for Clach, and I wouldnt really like to see Grant Street Park demolished to make way for houses but they have to help themselves as well. If they could raise 10K a year for rent through merchandising/donations etc and had only 4K debts for rent then maybe the council could come up with a scheme where they use the stadium in some sort of community capacity or reduce the rent level but if they are simply not bothering to pay the rent then like any other council debtor the bailiffs might have to come in.

On the face of it, it seems like a good experienced pair. I have no problem with Butcher being involved, he will certainly bring some straight talk to the position and even though its the "sweaty socks", I am sure he will bring a lot of passion as well.

You could 'borrow' a name from one of Toronto FC's groups ....... The North End Elite http://www.thenorthendelite.com/

The sad part of all this - and without delving into the rights and wrongs or responsibilities of all parties - is that we have to discuss the same topic time after time after time after time and no-one who could take steps to alleviate it seems to do anything about it.

:clapping03: :clapping03: - nail on the head, but it looks like the word is already out.

Unlike hooligan firms, whose main aim is to fight fans of other clubs, the main focus of ultras is to support their own team. "Ultra" groups usually have four main aims # never stop singing or chanting during a match, no matter what the result # never sit down during a match (could be difficult to achieve in the SPL) # attend as many games as possible (home and away), regardless of cost or distance # loyalty to the stand in which the group is located I am a proud member of the Toronto FC Ultras group called U-Sector and we have made Section 113 at BMO Field very enjoyable and very intimidating to away teams. I personally struggle with the third aim because of cost/distance but the other three make it a thoroughkly enjoyable (and violence free) day out. As someone mentioned elsewhere, Aberdeen is a great example and this page is very informative. http://www.redultras.net/about/

indeed

and therein lies the answer :015:

Costa Rica, Cambodia and Haiti are good flags too - just replace the crests with ICT logos Costa Rica (with & without crest) Cambodia Haiti